President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen certified Friday that the U.S. military is prepared to accept openly gay and lesbian service members, and that doing so will not harm military readiness, according to the White House.

Under a bill passed last year that set up a process for repealing the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy, all three men needed to sign a certification that confirms the military's ability to accept the integration of openly gay and lesbian troops.

A 60-day waiting period will now begin before the repeal is fully implemented.

soundoff(332 Responses)

John D

How does this work legally?

That is, why can Congress require the assent of the SecDef and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs?
Both Admiral Mullen and the Secretary of Defense are subordinate to the President, and serve at the President's pleasure.

as a veteran, i dont agree with this, and whoever is moderating needs to put my previous message up, I use t like cnn, but i can see they are a pro gay. The hypocrisy of people who call themselves gay christians...what bible are they reading...its like saying your a adultry commiting christian or a lying christian thief....crazy

your bible says many lies and you as a christian are a huge flip flopper yourself. keep your false messiah out of my life. i am jewish. also its not your call. i frown upon soldiers, esp soldiers like you. fighting for your freedom while opressing people yourself? your the hypocrite.

Sorry to say, most of the media does appear to be anti Christian and pro liberal 'do what you want to do'. This applies to most bloggers that respond. I can only say that upon their demise, they will find out (to their dismay) that they were wrong and something terrible is going to happen to them. Pray for them.

The gay Christians are reading The Bible any REAL Christian would- the one that include the teachings of Christ. Never once in any part of the New Testament did he condemn another human being except for the heretics in the temple- our modern-day Evangelists. "Christian" is to be "Christ-like" I have no clue who or whatt hose who condemn and judge others are. As for all the quotes you "loving" people like to use from the Old Testament, until you follow ALL of those rules, I suggest you stop cherry -picking the ones you want. and live by very few words spoken by God quoted in the Bible.

Stop using your fictional mythology to try and control other peoples' actions. If you want to use your book to dictate your own actions and mores, great. If you want to keep LGBT's out of your church, fine. That sort of restriction has no place in the military or a free society in general.

You in fact agree with the previous discrimination and bigotry? Well tough 'bro, cause it's gone and that's the new law now! Get over it already! And who are you to be casting stones at people? Look at your own backyard first!

there not christians my friends, those are called hypocryts, those are talked about in the bible too, so before you try to do the devils work and put god feariing christians in the same group with fake christians seek the truth...cedar rapids...its for you 2...and walk the walk, dont talk the talk like the so called "christians" you know

this aint a christian country- the founding fathers did not create an official state religion. and this is not a theocracy. i fear g-d, but i don't fear your false messiah. jesus was jewish- not christian. also, i say the christian devil does not exist. nor is there a hell. keep your lie out of my life.

What does the bible have to do with any of this? It's just a book of stories and fables written by countless hundreds of people, edited to death over the millenia, and created simply to control people. There is no god. I don't care what your god says about anything. Your opinion about this topic is meaningless, unwanted, and pointless.

My question is will this officially "forgive" those 13,000+ people who were kicked out of the military for being gay? It seems unfair to hold a dishonorable discharge over someone's head for a law that no longer applies.

most of them didn't get dishonorable discharges – they got convenience of the government discharges; you have to be courts-martialed to get a dishonorable. If they did something to get courts-martialed – then they got what they earned. as for all of them coming back in – have at it – we are drawing down in case you haven't noticed - they're cutting the defense budget big time.

Former Military- you have no clue what you are talking about. If a gay man joined the military, it was because he was probably MORE of a true patriot than the many that did so to turn their lives around or to escape and existence they couldn't handle.. Through ur history there have been millions of gay soldiers that served this country and did so with the greatest of courage and respect for our freedoms. All the hatred being spoken about gays was said of blacks, women and other minorities. Ignorance is not bliss- it's ignorance

Kudos to you, MarineVet! I'm sure glad to see that not everyone is close-minded and bigoted against their fellow soldiers whose orientation may differ from theirs! Thank you for your service to our country, and we must also remember to thank every G-ay and Le-sbi-an solider who fought hard and even gave their life to their country as well. Good luck to you, Marine! Stand up straight and square your shoulders against the bigotry that exists in this country against others who also serve proudly!

As a veteran of the military, I applaud this decision. As a gay man I can tell you my shipmates were my brothers and they were my peers. I would've done anything for any of them. What civilians dont realize is when you join a branch of the US military its your family. All families have issues but they resolve them in house, and you still care about your brother.

This is why I enlisted and fought for our county...is for the freedoms and liberty for every single citizen.....

yup there are people who "claim" to be christian, but that the whole point. So they can pollute the idea of a god fearing people, and just make it seem like its all lies...its the devil way to justify people to do what they want and not fear god. And i find it funny how people deny God exists..and people think they are smarter than thousands of years of knowledge and their creator. BUt you never hear people talking about the devils doesnt exist,...its becuz he doing what he does best...

Shouldn't you be on the Belief board? You can say what you want, but you're a bit off-topic here. This is about a policy change in the US Military – not a debate about what makes a Christian a Christian.

I'm gonna say it, the Devil doesn't exist, just like God doesn't exist. The Bible is a LIE, people who believe it are decieved and gullible. People who deny other people rights because of what's written in it are a plague on society. I don't care if you want to believe it, that's your right. Don't try to impose your beliefs on me or anyone else.

You know, not ok, you should ask God to help you love your fellow man as Jesus told everyone they should do and without reservation or discrimination against who they were. You need to let go of that rancor and angry thoughts against others whom God also created. Learn to love and understand them and live with people in a decent manner and respect others for their diversity for that is what it is all about in this world. Without that, we would not be able to see the forest for the trees.

rusty benson...you denied the messiah...your people did...your the hyprorite...and you call yourself jewish...what other things have you done but deny your creator. Your people want to call Jesus the false messiah...but your people recognize him as a prophet?...your the fool

Thank God! Maybe now we can stop hearing about it! What about the 18 year-old who can fight for his country and vote for a president, but can't have a drink? that affects a whole lot more of our troops than this distraction.

@rusty benson...Jesus was a jew, and he said he was the messiah and that he was GOD...and he did many miracles to prove this. THousands of years later he still has an influence, but your same people denied him. The message was for your people first becuz you were Gods chosen people, but you denied him..."let his blood be on our heads" now look how the jews have been persecuted through out the world. And you say false messiah...and that there is no hell..What a way to make it seem there is no accountability to those who dont know the truth..so they can jusy do what they want on earth, becuz its their life and God doesnt exist...sad

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